One of Europe’s largest human trafficking networks for Albanians was shut down this week in a joint operation. Spanish and Albanian authorities apprehended 82 suspects—35 of them in Spain—including an Albanian police officer.
According to Spanish media, the Albanian and Kosovar networks provided forged documentation to enable migrants to transit illegally to the UK and Ireland, primarily through Barcelona airport.
A total of 26 individuals were detained by the Albanian National Police, with five wanted and still at large. Authorities uncovered a ‘laboratory’ for the production of false documentation, including passports, driving licenses, and bank cards. Additional assistance was provided by the U.S. diplomatic service in the Albanian capital of Tirana as well as Europol in eliminating the human trafficking gang.
An official statement from the Spanish Ministry of Interior outlined how migrants were transported by van across Europe to Barcelona, staying briefly at a hotel before flying to the UK or Ireland with forged documents. The authorities boasted that the network had been successfully “dismantled.”
“Albanian citizens were leaving Albania with their original Albanian passports for EU countries inside the Schengen area. The forged documents were then mailed to hotels where they stayed in Spain, or residential addresses,” according to Albanian police. The authorities remain unsure how many migrants were transported through the smuggling route.
The phenomenon first came to the attention of Spanish authorities in 2019.
Albania is taking a central role in European discussions around migration control. The country’s prime minister only last week signed a bilateral agreement to accept thousands of asylum seekers from Italy for processing.
Albanian people smuggling networks have been linked to a surge of violence around migration routes in the Balkans, with Serbian and Hungarian authorities reporting that small arms confiscated from migrants attempting to cross the border into the two countries originated with the Albanian mafia.
The issue of illicit Albanian human trafficking networks has been a politically charged issue in British politics in recent years, with the UK government announcing multiple measures, including the ineffectual Rwanda Plan to deter migrants from entering the UK by crossing the English Channel from France.
Motivated by a lack of opportunity, particularly in the poverty-stricken north of the country, an estimated 12,000 Albanians crossed illegally to the UK by the Channel route in 2022 alone, fuelled by the opportunities to work in the lucrative drug trade.
